N.Y. backyard press blows up

“New Jersey politics is impacted dramatically by its unique political geography. There is no statewide media market. New York City covers about two-thirds of the population in the north, and Philadelphia covers the remaining third in the southern part of the state,” said Ben Dworkin, Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “When The New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer cover you, it’s national news. When New York tabloids cover you, it becomes national news.”

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” a program targeted toward I-95 influencers in the political, media and publishing worlds, has had an especially important role in elevating these players — Christie most of all. The governor has appeared on the show multiple times during his time in office. Host Joe Scarborough (a POLITICO contributor) recently joked that the show was accused of being “Good Morning Trenton.” When he and co-host Mika Brzezinski appeared at a POLITICO Cocktails event in Washington last month, they mentioned that they often texted with Christie about his poll numbers.

“We’re such friends of Chris Christie, we’re champions of Chris Christie,” Scarborough said the day after the Bridgegate scandal blew open.

Scarborough continues to give Christie “the benefit of the doubt,” but that hasn’t stopped the “Morning Joe” panel from criticizing the governor and his aides for their actions, nor has it kept them from debating what it could mean for Christie’s political future.

In an email, Scarborough said: “There are obvious disadvantages of being a governor in such close proximity to New York City, but for Chris Christie, the advantages have been far greater in terms of the national media attention he has enjoyed and his fundraising network on Wall Street.”

Even amid the most intense scrutiny, Christie can still find allies — particularly in conservative media outlets also based in New York.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly called the bridge scandal “pretty bad,” but said “fair-minded people should believe” Christie’s defense that he was not involved, and that the governor is being made a target for 2016.

“Christie is the biggest threat to the Democratic Party. We are seeing a personal campaign lodged against him that will not calm down any time soon,” O’Reilly said.

“They have got to destroy Christie before he can get to the primaries,” he added.

In his own words, Christie has repeatedly referenced his aggressive style that has been so attractive to the press as a necessary tool for getting things done in his state — even if it means opening himself up to criticism.

“The tone I’m trying to set for New Jersey is: action,” Christie told New York magazine in 2010, when his political reputation was just starting to lift off. “Less talk, more action. And I think that’s what I’m doing as governor, and I think we’ve gotten a lot of stuff done already because of that, because I’m pushing and pushing and pushing.”

Whether Christie can weather the Bridgegate storm will depend on several factors, and perhaps most significantly on what revelations come out in the days and weeks ahead. But given his political ambitions, his personality and his proximity to New York — a powerful trifecta — there is no doubt that the story, however it unfolds, will continue to dominate headlines.

“There are going to be tons of stories like this — ‘Christie sharp elbows’ stories, Christie retribution stories,” Heilemann said. “Proximity was Christie’s blessing; now it’s become his curse.”